


Broken Bearings

by sugarkill



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Addiction, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anger, Angst, Anxiety, Crying, Depression, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, M/M, Old Friends, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Drug Use, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Sleep Deprivation, Slow Burn, Smoking, Suicidal Thoughts, anger issues, this may get progressively more and more self-insert and i apologize greatly, yeah this gets very heavy because it's mostly a vent.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 19:38:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17189132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarkill/pseuds/sugarkill
Summary: Shane and Evan were inseparable in high school. But as the two fell into separate addictions, Shane with alcohol and Evan with smoking, the two grew apart to such a vast level.And now that Evan's inherited his grandfather's Olde Mill Farm in Stardew Valley, Shane and Evan meet again and have to deal with the pain of old memories they've carried for all these years. They're simultaneously disappointed in and concerned for each other's positions.





	Broken Bearings

**Author's Note:**

> As stated in the tags, this is very much 100% a vent story. As a result. this story may be very triggering or otherwise just very heavy. It also means this story won't be updated regularly, and probably, due to the patterns of my emotions, updated a lot in one single period then left on hiatus for quite some time. It will eventually be a completed, finished story but I'm not really making this a priority, just an outlet for my thoughts so I don't have to burden my friends. Especially this first chapter. I don't want to trouble my friend on his birthday.
> 
> Also first chapter's kinda short yikes sorry! Most chapters actually probably will be on the shorter side.  
> I import stories into AO3 from a Google Doc and lemme tell ya. It looks like so much more in the Google Doc.

Evan was new to Pelican Town. It seemed like a good choice to make. His job as an accountant at Joja was underpaying, tedious, and above all else, extraordinarily stressful. He had to do good because there wasn’t many other jobs he could take. He’d been fired from almost all of them and they surely weren’t going to let him back in. So when he opens up a yellowed envelope and learns of an offer to inherit his grandfather’s Olde Mill Farm, he quit Joja and hopped on the nearest train with no hesitation. He didn’t even know anything about farming, or ranching. But in a small town, he was sure he could get advice - or, if he couldn’t, surely he wouldn’t be taxed too high to the point where he couldn’t make enough to survive.  
A new place would be nice too. This was essentially just a free house. Evan didn’t know what the condition of the cottage was, but he was entirely certain it was better than his old, moldy, run-down apartment in downtown Zuzu. If absolutely necessary, he could just still go a ways away to get upgrades or buy new furniture. If we was lucky, maybe there would be a carpenter in town. Or an IKEA employee. Someone well immersed in building and couches and tables and shit like that.  
The first day getting in wasn’t even that bad. Tiring, yes, absolutely. At all times he had zero energy mentally, but yet he pushed himself, motivated to make a new living and managed to clear out a little less than a fourth of the debris. Pretty good progress, especially for having to not sleep to be able to catch the quickest train. He was also able to get some crops down. Now he just had to make sure to take care of them. It wouldn’t be too much different from just gardening, right? You just gotta make sure they’re watered every day and not stepped on.  
And after such a long day, ending at the sun-setting time of around 7:30, Evan decided to treat himself to a little something. Not a cigarette, he’s had way too many of those today. And for Evan, that means he’s literally just out of cigarettes. Not another pack. He doubted such a small, cheery town would have cigarettes readily available. He might have to travel out of town to buy some, or maybe just find some angsty teen he can cop some from.  
He had little money but probably enough for a good ol’ beer. He started route towards the saloon, looking down at his feet the entire time, watching every one of his steps. He would only occasionally glance up to make sure he was on the right path. Not a lot of people were walking about at this time of night, but the few friendly indivduals who said a “hi!” were simply ignored.  
Luckily, the saloon wasn’t too far away from the farm. It was a short walk, only a mere ten minutes or so. He pushed open the door, and was immediately taken aback by the sound. Wow...for a town with a population of - what, about 30? and that’s counting the kids and teens - it was far more noisy than he would’ve expected. Either the adults naturally talked loud or it was intoxication making them shout. But Evan ignored everyone else and headed straight for a bar stool right in his line of walking.  
Sat a few seats over from him was a man in a green coat and glasses. Evan swore he heard the man mutter a “hello” but didn’t respond. Although it might’ve just been his thoughts. The man seemed pretty timid. A knock on the counter refocused Evan, and he looked up to see a blue-haired woman in front of him.  
“Hey! Haven’t seen you before. You new in town?”  
“U-uhh...yes. My name’s Evan. Just moved in today.”  
The woman smiled. “Nice to meet you, Evan. Name’s Emily. I work part-time here. Say, can I get you a drink? Something to eat, maybe?”  
Evan grimaced slightly. Emily seemed nice enough, but that’s just the type of people he hates. Evan has a lot of secrets. Messed up and entirely private secrets. Friendly people always try to get to them. “Just...a beer,” he replied, his eyesight trailing to the side.  
Emily chuckled. “Someone’s grumpy. OK...one beer...hey, you remind me a lot of Shane.”  
Evan jumped up immediately. “Shane? Who’s...that?”  
He had a friend in high school - scratch that. Not just a friend. His absolute best friend. His name was Shane. They were joined at the hip, inseparable, never to fall apart. Or so they thought. Most of high school was alright, but senior year took them both out. Shane fell into depression and a lot of Evan’s close family left or died. The two fell into addictions, horrible addictions. Shane began to drink, and not just beer - anything he could get his hands on. If it got him drunk, he drank it. Evan, on the other hand, took up smoking. Tobacco and weed. He snagged cigarettes off his mother and became the school drug dealer’s favorite customer.  
Despite their friendship diminishing, Evan was deadly curious as to how his old high school bestie was doing.  
“The dude in the corner,” Emily responded, nudging her head to the end of the bar, near the fireplace. Evan stared hard at him, ignoring Emily’s remarks about how “antisocial Shane is. I don’t think you’ll get much talk out of him.”. There stood a man, leaning against the wooden wall. He had an expression on his face that read both anger and exhaustion. His attire - the hoodie of which was Joja branded, poor dude - was messy and sloppy. His haired looked uncared for and barely brushed. As if he knew Evan was looking at him, his eyes darted to the side, eyebrows still furrowed in a look of annoyance.  
Holy shit.  
Both their eyes widened, but the two stood frozen in place.  
“Evan?”  
“Shane?”


End file.
